Knowing your child- 18

An adult Sunbird is on its flight station in our garden!  A juvenile Bulbul is learning to make  bird calls although dysphoric now ( notice the absence of the tuft of red hair below the eye, unlike in the adult bird next to it). A red rose is in its advanced stage of opening to be a flower!

All these happen because there is a garden of trees and plants. The garden becomes a home for the flora and fauna. 

A Barbet looked well sheltered under the cover of foliage of a tree in our garden, when it was raining!

A family of four Barbets, two adults and two juvenile were at the feeding station in the morning ! Birds make the garden their home for nesting and nurturing new life!

A garden offers a flourishing ambience for life to grow! 

I have often thought of a garden as a metaphor for a home! 

What is central to a home is adults and children. 

It was this bud above, which became the flower as seen in the third photo!

The garden nurtured and nourished to allow the bud to become a flower!

That defines one large function of a home!

The adults at home provide the nurturing environment for children.

I received an audio message of greetings from a child yesterday! That reminded me of the mindful attention that parents created in the child to be warm, communicative and relational. 

A home is a place of belonging that a child naturally feels when parents create an ambience of acceptance and affirmation. 

I suspect that many children receive materially from their home but not enough emotionally and relationally!

What is the core in parenting is to bless children with the feeling of being treasured and honoured! 

It is this which would make pre-adolescent children turn to parents as their trustful companions during the transitions of life! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)